Mayor Thottathil Raveendran will open the first gas-operated crematorium in the city on June 29. It will be located next to the electric crematorium near Mavoor Road.
The project was conceived by the Kozhikode Corporation and was constructed by the Rotary Calicut East. P.N. Ajitha, president of the club, told the media here on Wednesday that an electric crematorium was built in the city only in 2003. Initially, people were reluctant to take bodies there because of their preference for traditional practice of burning bodies. Though the situation had changed over a period of time, the crematorium was frequently being shut down owing to technical issues and high electricity charges. It was in this context that the Corporation proposed the idea of an eco-friendly gas crematorium, she added. The cost of construction was over ₹25 lakh and Rotary International had promised a grant too.
The Kozhikode Corporation is reportedly planning to convert some of the traditional crematoriums, where firewood is used to burn the dead, to gas-operated crematoriums in the wake of complaints from local residents about pollution. They claim that using LPG is economical too. While traditional methods cost ₹2,000 to ₹5,000, cremation using LPG costs less than ₹1,000. Up to three bodies can be cremated using a 14-kg LPG cylinder with minimal use of firewood. One body could be completely burnt in one-and-a-half hours.
